The wrong lesson from Massachusetts

While Governor Christie continues to push for his "Cap 2.5," there are some signs that all is not well with his example. The Governor is surely right that we need tax relief - but there is another example set by Massachusetts that seems to have slipped the Governor's notice. And it's one that can be delivered without causing any of the potential negative consequences an arbitrary cap could deliver.

In the mid-1990s, the State of Massachusetts passed a law which allowed for the abolition of county governments. Within a two year period, half of Massachusetts' fourteen county governments were abolished. Technically, they exist as geographic entities only - the governing functions have been split between the municipalities and the state. The state, for example, took over the record-keeping functions of the County Clerks and runs the county jails, but the parks and roads and most other functions are run by those closest to the needs.

In places like West Texas, where I grew up, county governments make sense because there are vast tracts of land that lie outside the boundaries of any municipality. Here in New Jersey, where every square foot of land belongs to one municipality or another - in fact, municipalities pre-date the counties of New Jersey - there is virtually no reason to have an intermediary level of government between the local and the state. And there are close to ten billion reasons why it is unnecessary - the dollars that flow into the county tax coffers and get spent, largely without any sort of oversight.

Not only that, but county governments are notorious in New Jersey for patronage jobs and payoffs. With one fell swoop, we could clean out the sewer and cut a hefty percentage from our tax burden. Don't expect New Jersey's political class to go for such a move, but that is only further indication that it may be a good thing for the rest of us.
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